Power Girls…

Often I have wondered what a rare species we Women are…evlo avadharam than eduka mudiyum…but are we getting the due attention we deserve…..

For most of us who are juggling between work and home I am sure our first worry for the day would start with ... ‘inikki enna samaikarathu’…..for those of you who are gifted with a full time cook or maamiyar who will take care of this Himalayan task…my wishes.. ‘neengellam nalla varuvinga’..……

To my horror, my daughter had grumbled that night.... ‘Daily rice illa idli dosai thana..…ithuku mela vera ethuvum theiryatha unakku…..inikki classla en friend pasta kondu vantha ma…nee kuda nalaiku athe vai’…...Now starts my sathyasothanai…. I had to figure out the ingredients for this thalaiyum puriatha vaalum puriatha dish and keep it ready for the next day morning…

Next Day started with me going into the kitchen with puzzled thoughts on what to start first…..Namma thiramaiyellam pottu finally managed to cook the menu that was ordered.…… ‘athu pillayar pidika koranga mudinjathu than micham’…..on completion of this, ‘Kitchen Super Stars’ participant maathiri I waited in tension….ippo result announce panna poranga …..i was anxiously watching the reaction in my daughter’s face while she was looking at my so called pasta or rather tasting it…As she tasted it, I could see a sparkle in her face and yahoooooo I had made it…..’Venito Barla saaptathu maathiri illa but ok….ithe pack pannidu ma’….ooof  satisfying her is the most difficult task in my life and was happy that I was able to do it on a working day…..thirumbi paakama dharumi maathiri odu….

Next ippo lunch for me and breakfast for my hubby….i was hundred percent sure this ooru peru theriyatha dish will be blindly rejected by him…so had to side by side prepare our usual stuff….rice, sambar etc…..…ithuku naduvula is the usual coffee, tiffin vagayara…all these to be packed in tiffin boxes, water bottles to be filled, kitchen medai to be cleaned,putting two pinnals for my daughter (searching for the ribbon is the heights)etc etc..…sometimes extra sothanai will be either the school uniform not ironed or shoes that are dirty which need a polish…

In the middle of all this my sweet Bingo (2 year old labrador) will start  giving a little whine…yaaravathu enakku konjam paal uthunga please….. ….. I will literally have to keep running from one room to another to finish all these activities…ithukae u will get a comment in the air… 'intha speed pathathu…ivlo slow a panna 8.10 ku car kelambidum'…. finally it is my time to get ready and I will hardly get 10 minutes for my entire kelambifying….ayyayo breakfast senjenae……athellam evening vanthu saaptukalam…office la poi inikkum coffee & Britannia biscuit than…..mudiala da saami….

Then is the drive to office…if kadavul karunai is there the traffic will be manageable and so I will not be blamed for getting into the car late…otherwise vazhi fulla archanai than….

After the hecticJ  work at office, start back home in the evening and reach at 7PM….As soon as you enter the house you will have one full list of chores waiting to be completed – ‘amma pasikuthu’, ‘nalaiku oru project submit pannanum so netla  intha article edukanum’, ‘maths test iruku ana enakku onnum puriala’ and Bingo as usual jumping upto the roof demanding me to take him outside for a walk……so again start going in rounds – saapatu kadai, homework padalam, project etc…..By the time all these tasks are completed it will be 10.30 PM….

I am sure this will be the list of jobs to be done on a routine basis by every Woman on a daily basis…neenga Doctor, Lawyer illa software professional nu ellam sonna kuda no excuse…….maybe one or two additions or deletions….

My only question is…In the midst of all this where is the time to think about our health….what about the so called fitness…when was the last time we went for a walk or did a little exercise?....appuram yen sir naanga pear shape aaga maatom… ‘nee romba weight pottuta….konjam saapadu kammi pannu’…..aha enna oru solution…..but men have the time to visit the gym or at least go for a walk and claim themselves to be fitness freaks….

Where is the time for us to take care of our skin…When was the last time we went for a facial or head massage?.... ‘unnoda face romba thongi pochu….ethavathu cream apply pannu’…..we have the time to buy the so called beauty creams, shampoos, oils etc…but where is the time to apply and relax and pamper ourselves with all these….can we afford to do this on a daily basis…..etho oru Saturday or Sunday we take time off to koraintha patcham apply nail polish….men don’t need this anyway...enna pannalum will it make a difference??....he..he..

Where is the time for us to watch any of our favourite tv programs...When was the last time we sat at a stretch for one hour without any disturbance and watched a program?....either we totally don’t watch it or have to keep shuttling between the kitchen and hall with karandi in one hand….ithuke we can hear comments like ‘eppa paathalum Vijay tv super singer thana...vera informative a ethuvum paaka maatiya’….but men can watch a cricket match from morning to evening without even a little bit of guilty conscious…..

Where is the time for us to keep us updated with the latest news – Sun news fulla paaka time iruka?? How many of us know who won the Women’s title in the Australian Open 2013??...We can hear comments from men – ‘GK la nee sutha zero…LKG pasangaluku theriaruthu kuda unakku theriala’….but men have all the time in the world to read the newspaper from front to back, back to front and again from front to back and also watch Sun news, Kalaignar news, NDTV, CNN IBN, Times Now etc etc…

Leave all the above beauty aspects….how many of us have the time to patiently listen to whatever our kids have to tell us….they have lots of small stories that happened in school or van and are waiting to share that with us…but do we have the time and patience to listen to them…I would say very rarely…..ithuleyum we have not done full justice pola iruku L….

But gals, we cannot give lack of time as an excuse and deprive ourselves…..a little bit of planning is all that is required…..we are already super moms and wife’s who are able to do multitasking for our family….in the middle of that we also need to take some time off for ourselves….So let’s :

-           Hit the gym or at least go for a walk – this will definitely improve our fitness levels,

-           Do a makeover – have a haircut or eye brows at least – this will boost our confidence and make us feel young and energetic.

-          Spend some time on reading –  it can be anything from newspaper to kumudam, anantha vikadan – this will greatly improve our knowledge levels on the latest happenings, politics etc

-          Get  updated at least on the basics of the latest technology, phones, cars  that has hit town….this is one of the way to impress our kids during a conversation with them…. illana comment from them will be ‘Ammavukku onnum theriathu….sutha waste’….

-          Have a hobby or enjoy with our pets – Bingo is a great stress buster for me…

-          Have happy hours with our family….

This is little bit which I follow which I thought of sharing with you….you gals know better…so keep going…Girls Rock !!!!!

Three Wheel Nightmare…

Last evening the travel back home from work was quite adventurous or would say rather pathetic…Had started from office around 6 PM and was out of the office gate trying to catch an auto…

I am sure at the utterance of the word ‘Auto’ all women travelling by it would definitely stand up and sing in chorus “sothanai mel sothanai pothumada saami…sothanai than vaazhkai endral thaangathu boomi”…..for those who are lucky enough to get a dedicated auto driver (ithu nalla irukae) appadiyae ukkanthu kathai kelunga…

First and foremost criteria for me to catch an auto is the way the driver looks....ama ivangaluku kamal Hassan than auto ottuvaru…. Stop.. stop…naa atha mean pannala….i meant I would never dare to catch an auto where the driver is not wearing his uniform and is in his casual lungi….looks drunk, eppadi oodha solluvingala…..illa…his eyes should not be blood red…he should not have another accomplice who is sharing the driver seat with him….eppadi namma munecharikai…

Second criteria rate than…..I usually start from Rs.150 and would stretch upto Rs.200 depending on the time I am leaving office…some will accept for Rs.150 while most of them will not be in this range but will start at Rs.320…..naa autova vaanga velai kekala…..poga mattum than…This negotiation is the toughest part where you have to explain to him the full direction with exact kilo meters to reach your destination to justify the amount that is still under parisilanai…

Moreover our auto nanbar until that morning would have been driving in New York city and would have just landed in Chennai, so paavam he will be very much worried about the bad roads on the way for which I have to advertise on behalf of Government that   ‘New Avadi road nalla pottutanga….bridge ellam kattitanga….so neenga antha routela tharalama polam’…..

Even after so many pep talks our auto nanbar will still be skeptical…… ‘thirumbi gaaliya poganum madam….so pottu kodunga’….adengappa naa vena thirumbi thonaiku varava….am I living in a desert or what…At last the negotiations will come to an end, won’t say amicable…..

Once you are through with this acid test the next is the kolaveri ride….mostly the city autos go in a speed which will make you feel as though you are riding on top of  a Spanish AVE Talgo-350 (udane google pannanum ha..ha)…..u will not have anything to hold on to and our auto nanbar is least bothered about the passing vehicles and the bad roads…..left la odaichu..right la odaichu..cut adichu……and u will be stuck like a balli (lizard) in one corner…this is the place where I think of god more than anywhere….kaduvulae enna safe a serthurupa….unkitta illa veetla…..

At last u will automatically give a sigh of relief when the destination is nearing and if luck favors the negotiated amount will be accepted without any grumbling ….illana…yedra antha aruvala….

So now coming to my story…innum kathaiyae arambikalaya…enna oru build up… last evening after doing all the above preliminary checks I finally got the 4^th auto on road…the guy accepted for Rs.150 but said that he was not aware of the route and that I should guide him…

i said ok and as we reached the Lucas signal, he started grumbling that he wouldn’t have accepted if the distance was so much….

i knew I am in for a fight with this guy as there was some more distance to reach my house and moreover I had to pick up my daughter on the way (no deviation) for which he might have to stop for two seconds….i told him the direction – Left ponga, right, then left, and when I asked him to stop for two minutes to pick up my daughter…he got so frustrated and said that for 150 he can only come till here and asked me to get down….

I blindly refused and said that he can’t leave me in the middle of the road and just then my daughter also was there and got into the auto…Now you should imagine the way this guy took the auto...he was driving like a mad elephant and both of us would have been flung outside the auto…The highlight was when I asked him to stop, he refused and was still going in the same speed…

I started shouting and asked him to stop the vehicle immediately…by this time we had almost reached our place and he stopped in a junction which was a few yards from my house….i got down the auto and out of panic and frustration started yelling at him for refusing to stop and for over speeding…..there was a big scene happening in a busy road…me shouting at him at the top of my voice to come to the police station and he justifying that he did not do any wrong…..

Finally I settled the amount and just as I was walking away, I could hear this auto guy say....'sterling road thane nee…enkitta maatama poga maata'…

In the middle of all this I could see so many curious on lookers who were very much interested to stop and watch the fight but to my dismay not even a single person had come to my rescue…Thanks to Nimmi(my neighbour) who just then passed by and stopped to join me on seeing this.....

The vegetable shop owner whom I knew from small age in front of whose shop this incident happened was simply watching the whole thing trying to attend a single customer..…..

Will these people do the same thing if such a situation arises for their mother or sister or wife.. konjam pazhaiya statement than but it made real sense to me at that moment….

So guys…where are we heading to…are we in a really safe place…are we not for each other in times of trouble….it is so pathetic that we need to fight our own battles….

I was reminded of the grave Delhi incident where people had gathered in huge numbers protesting against this atrocity…..but we also heard that nobody came forward to help the victims while they were lying on the road after being hit…..isn’t this not contrasting….so is it purely our luck that somebody  may or may not come to our rescue during such situations….

On a serious note, I request all the Annans, thambis, mamans, machans, Akkas, thangachis on road to come to the rescue of a woman in such situations….we really need you….it will be a great support for each other to fight against these bad elements…..

Mission Accomplished...

Today I would say is a major milestone in my life…Yes !!!! have started driving our car….for those of you who think “Che ivlo thana”….i would say that this sense of accomplishment and pride can be felt and justified only by people like me who would put on their jogging shoes and run on hearing the word ‘driving’….

Am sure everybody fears for something or the other in their life and one thing I was dreadfully frightened from my young age was driving…It all started at a very young age when I was around 6 or 7 years old…My father had bought a new BSA SLR cycle after repeated requests from my brother…but much to the annoyance of my brother, he bought a ladies cycle so that both of us could use it…..but that never happened in my life…

It was because of a dream I had that I was driving this cycle and the PTC bus 7B (this is the slowest bus on earth in our route J) hitting me from behind…from that day onwards enakku cycle endral bayam, car endral bayam, bus endral  bayam…..even after many attempts I was not able to get rid of this fear…

As years passed by  the cycle transformed into a hero puch (sort of TVS 50) and then to a bike -  all for my brother’s sake and my dad having a little nappasai that I would somehow start driving….but nothing changed….then after some years we got our first car and I said to myself…'I am scared only of driving a two wheeler as I will be hurt if I fall but I am sure I will be able to drive a car as I will only be inside and so no chances of falling'…..

So very enthusiastically enrolled myself into a car driving school and completed the driving session, went for the license test and came out in flying colours…..ithuku onnum koraichal illa…and one fine Sunday morning thought of giving it a try and with my brother next to my side & my dad behind took out the car…

But to my horror again, got stuck near the Lucas signal in a Slope and the same 7B behind me…..etho sathi  velai nadakutho…..the car started rolling back and stopped after hitting the bus from behind….the driver of the bus was honking so badly and I was struggling to move the car forward or rather start it first…..finally managed to start the car and  was pressing the accelerator so hard that it was making a big sound but oops I was not releasing the clutch…..

I could hear my brother giving instructions brake adi… brake adi to stop the car going back further…and my father giving instructions “accelerator kudu accelerator kudu” but nothing went into my head....enna kodumai sir  ithu….i was doing all the opposite things…..u can imagine the confusion and finally I had to swap places  and my brother had to come to the driver seat and from there we went disssssssh out of sight of all the curious people on the road…that was the swaha of my driving and I never ever tried it thereafter until my marriage….

Having known that I consider this as a drawback from my side, my hubby also tried to help me out with this fear but nothing worked….i was still the same thenali with bayam bayam bayam…..i progressed into the next stage…..i started getting paranoid to travel in car as a passenger and would close my eyes when a bus or lorry passed by…. aha enna oru improvement…..and was blamed that I was getting old….

Now comes the entry of Geetha my beloved friend…both of us were in the same boat as far as this driving was concerned….car than otta mudiala boat avathu ottalam… hee..hee..…she lives in our opposite flat and we are one extended family….she had come across a car trainer who would teach driving in our own car….immediately I said yes….and from thereon started my car ottum padalam…..

The trainer was Murugan Master…..he came to our house and was speaking for nearly an hour, giving us both tons of confidence that we will be able to drive within a month….Day 1 was really thrilling for me……Master’s main instruction was “neengala  onnum pannathinga..…naa solratha mattum pannunga”……and i blindly followed whatever he said…

After five or six classes of training I could see a lot of confidence built…I was trying to drive a car in whatever I was doing…pressing the clutch and applying the brake at my office desk….putting the right indicator and rotating the steering while cooking….changing the gear while watching tv…..while on the way to office with my hubby I was  talking only about driving, was nagging my colleague who is sitting next to me for tips on driving…ithu than soru thanni illama kathukaratha….ooof it was really hectic…but I was enjoying it…..

And slowly I could see that my driving skill has improved and whenever I was able to do a right task without Master’s instruction like changing the gear on slowing down etc….he would appreciate me saying avlo than madam….supera ottringa….he also made me drive in 90 kms  speed in the red hills highway……..after which I was asking myself (in NKPK* style)  ennachu…accelerator press pannen….car 90 la pocha…ok ok…kanava irukum….konja nerathula seri ayidum……but no it was real !!

And today I had been to Parrys (Paris illa namma broadway) driving my car with master…..Hurrrrray….. and I could see that I have really done a good job…I really deserve a pat on my back as after all the adventure I was finally able to make it……still a long way to go but the first stone has been turned…..

My next trip is to Adyar and i am planning to take my dad along or anyone who dares...hahaha...have till now kept it as a secret from my parents as i wanted to drive to their home and give them a surprise....

Thanks to God for blessing me with this, Murugan Master for teaching me and Gopi who came with me for all my classes and tolerated all my lectures on driving....thanks to geetha,sibi,sunil and rajaram (my office friends) for patiently listening to my driving experiences...thanks to geetha my neighbour who gave me lots of confidence.....ithellam eppadi thaana varuthu la……ha ha ha..

*Naduvula konjam pakatha kanom

Appa Takkar

Jus woke up after a short nap on a lazy Saturday evening….prepared a cup of my favourite Horlicks and was about to switch on the TV when I heard the kids in my colony playing outside…so took an U-turn and headed towards the balcony from where I could see them playing cricket…

I would have witnessed their game for about ten minutes when a small fight started amongst them regarding who should bat next.. I saw one of the boy referring to the other as  “ivaru periya appa takkaru” and I couldn’t control my laughter as these kids were hardly around 6 to 7 years old and such phrases used by them was a little funny….

I am aware that ‘Appa’ means father and ‘takkar’ means super in tamil but out of curiosity I googled to see what this word really means.. “ithellam konjam overu than.…ana ippo than ellathukum google irukae” and I couldn’t believe there were nearly 10 pages running to explain this word...and in fact there was another blog which had explained the origin and thathpariyam of this wonderful word…….it seems it was referred as a matter of respect  to a man who lived near the Madras seashore who  was good in heart and was highly skilled in his respective profile…and so it has become a practice to refer to people who are to be respected for their profound skills and values…

just as I had got enlightenment of this takkar word, my daughter sat down to finish her homework  and started narrating one of her school stories….. during the course of it she too used the word ‘appa takkar’ and I was surprised as to how this word has become so catchy amongst kids…

I was enquiring with her if she knew what this word actually means when the door bell rang….. she got up and opened the door and as I was about to ask her who it was…..she came with a bang “Amma, Appa takkar vanthutaru”…..and i saw my hubby entering the house….Stunned by her reference, both my hubby and me looked at her and not knowing for sure whether she had said a bad word my daughter immediately said with a sly smile…..“illa namma Appa than takkar ache athanala than sonnen”….

The situation became light as we started laughing and I could see a sigh of relief in my daughter’s face as she was not banged by us and from then on my hubby dear is referred as ‘Appa Takkar’ in our house and it has become common for us to address him that way during our casual talks…I dedicate this post to my family’s Appa Takkar J …....“ippadi ethavathu title vekkanum appuram ice vekkanum… eppadi”....

The beginning...

Feeling equally thrilled and perplexed as this is my first ever post in a blog. Having mixed feelings of what should I start with?…will I be able to do it?….will it be worth it?…

Had a word of prayer as I usually do before starting on any new venture…Don’t know how all of a sudden this thought of having my own blog came to my mind…”vithi seyyum velai”…Created this blog spontaneously or rather impulsively… maybe God has destined this new project to me for today…”enna oru chappa kattu”…

Have wondered many times what would be the reason for people to start a blog of their own…what is the need for them to share their personal thoughts and feelings with others who are not acquainted to them…is it a show off of vocabulary or is it a symbol of being updated in technology??.. “ellam oru vilambaram than”….Getting too complicated uhh…

So decided to chuck off those thoughts and give it a try…am sure this will be a really really big surprise for the ones who are close to me who have known me for years as a serious person, as one who is not very much participative in any of these social networking sites…also sure I am going to have mixed reactions from my family and friends...”unakku ithu thevaiya”…but come what may I have made up my mind to explore this new world…”naa oru mudivu pannita…en pecha naane keka maaten”....itha engayo ketta maathiri iruku....ithuvum copy thana…seri seri……

I totally believe that inside every person there is some percentage of a completely different or contrast character than what they seem to be outside….kadavul paathi mirugam paathi kalanthu seitha kalavai naan….I have decided to share those feelings or moments with you and so hope your journey with me into my world will be interesting, surprising & overall fun….